


Catch 'Em All

by Dance_Elle_Dance



Category: Victorious
Genre: F/M, Firsts, Humor, Pokemon References, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-27
Updated: 2015-09-27
Packaged: 2018-04-23 14:33:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4880476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dance_Elle_Dance/pseuds/Dance_Elle_Dance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Okay, so who's the creep that keeps putting Pokemon cards in my locker?"</p>
<p>Or, a different take on how Beck asks Jade out for the first time.</p>
<p>(Originally posted on 5/6/11.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Catch 'Em All

**Author's Note:**

> Re-post of one of my earlier Victorious fanfics. Basically Beck courting Jade through Pokemon. Because who doesn't love Pokemon? Please enjoy!

The card stares at her from the bottom of her locker.

Well, this is a first.

Jade West picks up the card in her pale fingers and stares at it for a good few seconds before taking out her scissors and slicing through it in one clean, precise swipe.

Somewhere, Beck Oliver curses.

\---

Beck got the idea from watching her. Sure, the whole thing sounds creepy, but how else was he going to find out what she liked? He had to find out what she actually enjoyed and use it to his advantage. And, apparently, she doesn't like much.

Then, a breakthrough.

After carefully watching her (it wasn't stalking, he swears), he is given a sweet reprieve.

One day, Cat walks up to her with a large present decorated in different colors. He sees Jade visibly cringe and shudder away from it, as if its sheer brightness hurts her. Beck feels a smile cross his features.

"Happy birthday, Jade!"

"Oh...my God," she replies in the most neutral voice she can.

The bright haired girl shoves the equally bright present into her arms. "Aren't you going to open it?"

"Give me time..." Jade replied, as if ramping herself up to find some garish present, like a stuffed kitten or hair ribbons or something. But undoubtedly Cat knows her better than that, so she gives her the benefit of the doubt.

She takes out her scissors - Beck tries to fight laughter - and snips at the ribbon before tearing into the package viciously with her fingers. The site causes Beck to wince involuntarily.

_Maybe her middle name is Violence,_ he muses.

But then...she smiles.

And it's not frightening, not menacing, not anything that he would expect from her. It's a genuine smile, and it causes her whole face to light up and Beck's chest to feel a bit lighter.

He cranes his head from where he's standing to get a better look and...

"It's a Pikachu!" Cat chimes, clapping her hands together a single time.

"I know what it is, Cat," Jade says, but her voice isn't mean, isn't at all Jade-like. The smile on her face stays there when she says, "Thanks. Really."

Beck blinks as Cat jumps to Jade, hugging her. Jade tenses, but gingerly returns the hug, and Beck chuckles.

_So, the almighty Jade West has a soft spot for Pokemon..._

That's when Beck gets the idea.

He skips the rest of school, gathers up all the money he has stashed in the RV, and makes a trip to the local toy store.

Cards, cards, cards. There's regular playing cards, and even some that he's never even heard of before. Beck looks at them all before finding the deck he wants.

He ends up blowing all his money on a few decks of Pokemon cards, in case Jade doesn't get the hint right away.

Oh yes, Beck's pretty sure he's a genius.

\---

He decides to start with a Clefairy. Yes, it's pink and it's girly, but Jade went all googly-eyed over Pikachu, so he's guessing that she doesn't have a total aversion to cute things.

When he's sure no one is looking, he sneaks past Jade's locker and slips the unassuming card into one of the slots.

He waits...

Between classes, he walks past her locker and sees that she has found the card at the bottom of her locker, staring at her with large, anime eyes set in a mass of pink fur.

He sees her quirk an eyebrow, pick up the card, and...

...slice into it with her scissors.

He curses.

\---

Clefairy was a fail, Beck knows. So maybe something not-so-pink and not-so-girly.

He thinks this as he slips a card into the slot of her locker - a dog that looks like it's from hell itself. Black fur, bones ringing its legs and a skull helmet...

Beck never sees her reaction to it firsthand, but in one of the classes he has with her, he sees the little Houndoom through the clear casing on the outside of her binder.

The grin on his face creeps even Sinjin out.

\---

Next, he decides to use a version of the Pikachu she had received from Cat. It's smaller and cuter (he ignores what she did to the cute thing last time), and is called Pichu. Beck slides it between the slots of the locker and goes to his usual observing place (he also refuses to call what he does "stalking").

He watches again as she picks up the card, stares at it intently, and...and...

...slips it into her pocket.

A triumphant smile crosses his face.

\---

Beck wasn't sure when he started to like her so much. She wasn't even his usual type of girl, but somehow he started to like the way she carried herself, with such confidence that he just had to feel envious. After that, he started to just like everything about her. Even the supposed "bad" things.

"Good luck with that," Sinjin had chirped at him in the hall, clearly observing him "observing" Jade, which was obviously one of Sinjin's favorite things to do as well.

Instead of making a remark back, Beck had said, "Thanks."

Because, frankly, he needed all the luck he could get.

Especially when, now, his main method of gaining her attention was through a children's game.

\---

He puts a Scyther into her locker next. Beck really doesn't know why that Pokemon had slipped his mind - it was an obvious fit for Jade and her love for sharp objects.

And this time, when he watches her pick up the card, he is greeted with a treat.

An alarmingly bright smile, spreading over her face and causing her eyes to light up with the happy nature of it. It has to be one of the most beautiful things he's ever seen in his life.

He lets out a breath that he didn't know he was holding.

Maybe he's making progress.

\---

This continues for a while. Card after card after card. He wonders why Jade doesn't snap and demand who the mystery gifter is.

Beck thinks that maybe it's because she secretly likes getting those cards. Another possibility would be that those cards are valuable and she plans on pawning them off later... He hopes it isn't the latter.

Then, he supposes she was in a particularly bad mood that day, Jade breaks. He had just placed a card in her locker - a rather cool looking one, a Electabuzz - and had moved to his usual observing area, when she barges through the place, and wrenches open her locker. Her eyes land on the yellow card and she looks absolutely electrified, almost like the most recent Pokemon gift.

"Okay, so who's the creep that keeps putting Pokemon cards in my locker?"

Her voice echoes down the hallway, and people end up stopping and staring at her but not one of them owns up to being the secret card guy.

That, unfortunately, is Beck's position.

Cat marches over, looking completely clueless as usual, and smiles at Jade. "Whaaaat? Is this about your secret Pokemon boyfriend?"

Jade glares at her, but Cat doesn't even flinch.

Beck does, though, and her gaze isn't even on him.

"It's Beck."

He freezes and peeks out from his hiding spot, where he can see Sinjin clearly speaking to Jade about him and his plot. Apparently, Sinjin is in on everything more than Beck had ever realized.

"...and he usually hides over there to judge your reaction..." Sinjin points to Beck's face, which is plainly visible at the moment. He quickly ducks back and hides himself, but it is already too late. Jade has seen him. It is over.

He doesn't hear her approach, which is slightly creepy - and then the thought occurs to him, _Who are you to be calling that creepy when you've been stuffing her locker with Pokemon cards like a pedophile._

Oh, he's such a creep. Even worse than Sinjin, whose ideal Saturday night is watching a documentary on mold.

Her black boot nudges his face, and he scutters to gather himself. Beck Oliver, self-proclaimed coolest guy in school, resulted to sniveling moron in the presence of Jade West.

Beck shoots up, and brushes himself off nonchalantly. He flicks his hair back and looks at Jade, who is staring at him with cold, but interested, eyes. "Sup."

Jade flashes the Electabuzz in his face, and Beck seems to shrink to only half his original height.

"Uh, yeah...heh, I guess you know."

"I end up finding out everything," she says, "and you should know this if we're going to date."

"I'm sorry to have bothered y - wait, _what_?" Beck stumbles over his words, gaping at Jade as if she just turned into some kind of monster.

"Obviously, you wanted to ask me out or you would've have went to all this trouble," Jade replies, looking at him like he's a special kind of dumbass. "Seriously, finding out my favorite Pokemon and all..."

"Clefairy, too?"

"Hell no, are you stupid?" Jade snaps at him, and he quickly retracts his statement, "Scyther, Electabuzz...Houndoom, Lugia, Pichu, Umbreon, Honchkrow...pretty much every one you gave me except for _that_ one."

Beck smiles for the first time since his discovery, and looks at her. She is trying to fight a pleased smile, he can see, though he doesn't think anyone else can tell. Either that, or he's having his own kind of delusion.

"Which leads me to think that you are either extraordinarily desperate or creepy."

"Sorry."

"So, pick me up at eight?"

Beck looks at her, almost right through her. He is shocked, and feels the blood rushing to his face. "What?"

"Do you want me to rethink saying yes?"

"But I didn't even ask you yet."

"You might as well have. You gave me Pokemon cards, and only Cat knows how much I... _like_ them," she looks like she wanted to say the other L word, but refrained. It would tarnish her image, after all. "I figure that you must be on to something right if you could do all of that."

Beck looks at her and smiles his most charming smile, although he knows that she wouldn't buy into that like most girls. "Alright. At eight."

"Do I need to give you directions to my house or have you stalked there as well?"

Beck laughs lightly. In all actuality, everything about this situation feels light. Better than he thought it would go. He feels almost like he's made of fluffy marshmallows, as girly as that sounds. At least no one can hear him. "No, no, directions would be fine."

Jade smirks at him, and Sinjin looks absolutely defeated. Cat just grins.

"See, Jade? I told you that my psychic never lies!"

Beck blinks, Cat beams, Sinjin beats his head against the wall, and Jade looks ready to explode.

People say two wrongs don't make a right, but Beck believes that two "crazies" just might.


End file.
